Differences

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--- blog:x68_launcher_1 [2020/08/22 13:08] – [Design Principles] john
+++ blog:x68_launcher_1 [2021/02/24 14:50] – [X68kLauncher] john
@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-====== X68000 Game Launcher - Article 1: Design & Logical Structure ======
+====== X68kLauncher, a X68000 Game Launcher - Information & Downloads ======
 So, you've got a fancy new (old) [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X68000|Sharp X68000]], and you've [[https://nfggames.com/X68000/index.php/Games/|somehow]] managed to get loads of games for it.
@@ Line 38: / Line 38: @@
    * //(Optionally)// **Output an audit file of all games**
-| Next [[blog:x68_launcher_2|(X68000 Game Launcher - Article 2) >>]]
+----
+===== Logical Operation =====
+  * Run application
+  * Scan through list of known game locations (e.g. A:\Games, C:\Games2)
+  * Generate in-memory list of all game sub-folders (e.g. A:\Games\Arkanoid2)
+    * Note if their sub-folder contains any additional metadata
+    * Note if their sub-folder contains a known start.bat launch file
+  * Sort list of all games by sub-folder or title from their metadata so we have a 0-9, A-Z, a-z list
+  * Build user interface from graphics primitives and on-disk bitmap files
+  * Populate a scrollable selection list
+====== X68kLauncher ======
+{{:blog:x68000_launcher_2.png?500|}}
+My //X68kLauncher// application is written in C, using the the [[blog:x68_devtools|GCC development tools as detailed on my site]].
+//What is it, and what does it do?//
+//X68kLauncher// is graphical game browser and launcher for the late-80's range of X68000 personal computers from Sharp.
+It runs on the Sharp X68000 hardware itself, either emulated or real physical system; it is __not__ a Window/Mac/Linux application like [launchbox](https://www.launchbox-app.com/) or [RetroArch](https://github.com/libretro/RetroArch).
+   * It creates a browseable list of all the game directories on your drive(s)
+   * It can load and display additional metadata per game (i.e developer, genre, release date etc)
+   * It can load and display screenshots or artwork per game (i.e box art, screenshots, etc)
+   * It can export an audit file of all the found games
+   * It can launch any game for which a start file is either found (e.g. start.bat), or which has been defined in metadata (e.g. run.com, go.exe, etc)
+A demo of a (early) version of the application can be found on my Youtube channel:
+{{youtube>3cuFtyWimM8?large}}
+You can find versions of the X68kLauncher application ready to download on this page, as well as packaged up versions of games and their metadata ready to go.
+As a reminder, you'll need the following:
+   * A Sharp X68000 (or emulator, such as **xm6g**)
+   * A hard drive
+   * Minimum of 2MB of memory
+All the files necessary to run the application are included in the application zip file.
+===== Application Binaries =====
+Pre-compiled versions of the X68kLauncher application are listed here.
+^ Date           ^ Notes                                ^ Download Links                      ^
+|                |                                      |                                     |
+===== Application Source Code =====
+Source code for the X68kLauncher application can always be found at Github:
+   * https://github.com/megatron-uk/x68klauncher
+===== Game Metadata =====
+These packages include a pre-written __launch.dat__ metadata file, screenshots, box artwork and custom start files (in most cases following the Sharp X68000 convention of being named __!start.bat__). In cases where a game has a configuration tool to set music/sound options, this is set as the alt_start executable.
+The packages should unzip directly to a directory such as __A:\Games__ on your X68000 hard drive and //be ready to go//. //You don't need to find anything else//.
+^ Info ^ Name                    ^ Developer      ^ Metadata ^ Screenshots ^ Box Artwork ^ Audio ^ Notes                 ^
+|      |                         |                |          |             |             |       |                       |